Successful Science and Engineering Teaching in Colleges and Universities
Published on 1. December 2006
Book
Paperback/Softback
176 pages
978-1-933371-16-0 (ISBN)
Description
This book offers broad, practical strategies for teaching science and engineering courses and describes how faculty can provide a learning environment that helps students comprehend the nature of science, understand science concepts, and solve problems in science courses. The student-centered approach focuses on two main themes: reflective writing and working in collaborative groups. When faculty incorporate methods into their courses that challenge their students to critically reflect, collaborate, and problem solve, students gain a better understanding of science as a connected structure of concepts rather than as a simple tool kit of assorted practices. Contents include:* Reflective writing* Writing to learn* Constructing student knowledge* Selected methods for using collaborative groups* Changing students' epistemologies* Training students to solve problems* Using technology to aid your teaching
Reviews / Votes
" ... A very practical work replete with carefully considered, useful, no-nonsense suggestions of ways to improve student learning in science and engineering classes ... Whether you are a beginning faculty member or one who has taught for some time, there is much to be gained from reading this book." (Journal of Chemical Education, October 2007)More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Bolton
United States
Publishing group
John Wiley & Sons Inc
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 228 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 10 mm
Weight
284 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-933371-16-0 (9781933371160)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Calvin S. Kalman is a tenured full professor in the Department of Physics, a fellow of the Science College, and a member of the Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance at Concordia University. He is also an adjunct professor in the Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology at McGill University. He has held many positions at Concordia, including chair of the physics department. He has served as chair of the international series of conferences on hyperons, charm and beauty hadrons (Montreal 1997, Genoa 1998, Valencia 200, Vancouver 2002, Chicago 2004, Lancaster UK 2006). He also served as editor-in-chief for the proceedings of these conferences. In addition, he has co chaired and co edited the 26th annual Montreal-Rochester-Syracuse-Toronto (MRST) conference on high energy physics and coauthored the book Preons: Models of Leptons, Quarks and Gauge Bosons as Composite Particles (1992, World Scientific). He held the positions of science editor and senior executive editor of Academic Exchange Quarterly. The author of 73 published papers related to high energy physics and 34 papers on science educational research, he has also been invited to give papers and workshops on educational research. He presented the keynote address at the annual spring teaching forum, Teaching the Future: Innovation in the College Classroom, at Yale University and at the annual meeting of the physics and engineering physics division of the American Society for Electrical Engineers. Professor Kalman has served as commissioner for elementary schools and also as commissioner for high schools of the Protestant School Board of Greater Montreal. He also served on the council of the Canadian Association of Physicists. He also served on the council of the Canadian Association of Physicists. He was awarded the Canadian Association of Physicists Medal for Excellence in Teaching, the Concordia University Council on Student Life Teaching Award, and a teaching and Creativity Award from the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.
Content
About the Author. Acknowledgments. Author Note. 1 Introduction. Teacher-Centered Learning. Road Map of the Book. Summary. 2 Reflective Writing. Freewriting. The Bereiter and Scardamalia Model. Objectives of the Reflective Writing Activity. How to Do Reflective Writing. Summary. 3 Writing-to-Learn. Reflective Write-Pair-Share. The Course Dossier Method. Hosting an End-of-Semester Conference. Summary. 4 Constructing Student Knowledge. Students' Intellectual Development. Student Misconceptions. Critical Thinking. Summary. 5 Collaborative Groups. Team Work and Group Projects. Group Development. Roles for Group Members. Dealing With Dysfunctional Groups. Summary. 6 Selected Methods for Using Collaborative Groups. Conceptual Conflict. Overview of the Conceptual Change Experiment. Jigsaw. The Learning Cell. Collaborative Concept Mapping. Summary. 7 Changing Students' Epistemologies. Constructing an Epistemology. Summary. 8 Problem Solving. Solving Problems Using Templates Versus Solutions Using Paradigms. Five-Step Method for Solving Problems. Problem-Solving Strategies. Summary. 9 Methods for Training Students to Solve Problems. Writing Their Way Into the Solution. Collaborative Problem-Solving Groups. Summary. 10 Using the Computer to Aid Teaching. Computer-Assisted Instruction. Using the Computer to Manage Laboratories. Summary. Suggested Readings. Bibliography. Index.